In almost all sets of the conference spring meetings this month, The future of university football playoffs was in the center and the center.
As much as the debate raged on the overview (overall size of the playoffs) to meticulousness (game game format during the weekend of the title of conference) on the football side, there was a subject in eliminatory series which largely escaped to infiltrate the greatest speech: the expansion of the NCAA basketball tournament.
A large part of this was by design, the agendas already packed in the brim with other subjects to discuss such as the extent of complications linked to the next House c. Ncaa Rules. Nevertheless, taking the madness of March beyond the current support of 68 teams remains hidden in the background because the decision chiefs will aim to tackle in the coming months.
At least, as soon as all those other The problems are treated first.
“The consensus among the coaches was that, even if there was very little (consensus), that we would be in favor of this,” Kansas Jayhawks, Bill Self in the big 12-year-old meetings in Orlando said on Wednesday. “I don’t know what the number will go, but I know there are discussions about it.”
The president of the NCAA, Charlie Baker, has openly pleaded in the past about a transition to a format of 72 or 76 teams and various committees studied the subject dating from last summer when the conversations took a much more serious tone. The SEC commissioner, Greg Sankey, even before his league obtained 14 of the 16 schools in the big dance last season, was also a supporter and was kept aware of the subject.
However, there is growing recognition among many administrators who from the house The regulations are implemented and the CFP format for 2026 and beyond can (hopefully) be finalized, attention can turn to the feasibility of the growth of the NCAA tournament to reflect membership in division I, which has swelled in recent years.
The ultimate decision-making on the subject lies in the NCAA male basketball committee which tells a source Illustrated sportswill meet in person in July to discuss in addition to determining the future championship reception sites and more.
There is also the question of what everything in university athletics has become: money.
Current media contracts for the NCAA male basketball tournament do not require that broadcasters pay additional income for more games if the format is extended. Since there is a cost associated with the staging of more games and flying teams to additional sites across the country, any thought for expansion in terms of conference payments is generally considered negatively.
To complicate things, the state of companies holding these contracts, which currently takes place until 2032. CBS and the Mother Société Paramount Global remain in limbo in the middle of a merger with Skydance Media while Warner Bros. Discovery explored the rotation of cable assets like the TNT, TBS and Trutv channels which also broadcast March Madness. None of the two seem to be able to take a step on any modification of the contract at the moment. However, they would probably agree with an additional inventory of little or no cost if the NCAA always wanted to continue the expansion.
There is also the question of everything that happens on the side of men who have an impact on the support of women. The new NCAA dissemination agreements with ESPN signed last year contain arrangements related to expansion, but the meeting in value for all people involved in net profit is still a little in the air.
“I don’t know if there is a group atmosphere. I don’t know how much we are actually underway,” said Kansas basketball coach Brandon Schneider, of expansion. “From the point of view of control (what we can control), we try to read everything we can position ourselves to have as many teams in the NCAA tournament as there is currently.”
“We did not have this specific type of conversation on what this number would be,” said the counterpart TCU, Mark Campbell. “It is more true that the number is 68, how can we bring as many teams as possible?”
Indeed, the fodder of the current support with a higher percentage of teams remains the primordial discussion of the leagues in recent weeks before even going to the sometimes animated conversation on the overall expansion of the tournament. During ACC meetings earlier in the month, the coaches discussed a variety of proposals designed to stimulate the number of programs hearing their name called Sunday of selection. The Big 12 recently approved a decision to spend 20 conference games at 18 in order to improve its more chances next March.
“You have to follow. This league is competitive. The dry, they obtained 14 teams in the NCAA tournament this year and we only had seven,” said Houston Cougars male coach Kelvin Sampson. “The great thing about the Big 12 is that the history of our conference says that we have passionate fans bases that expect their teams to be competitive. Now, we have shown where we are, and things are good, but … it is difficult not to think about where are we going to be in five years? How can we be proactive and advance our league?”
Although each conference uses this time on the calendar to focus on all the things they can do to become more competitive, the discussion on the simplest solution of all – which simply has more points for the leagues that climbed at 16 and beyond – will continue in the background.
The debate on the format of the playoffs of university football clearly sucks a lot of oxygen at the moment, but the lack of material of the most prestigious American tournament is always exposed to the agenda far beyond the month in charge of May.
